Work Package 1. Specification of Research Design.
WP1 elaborates the research design of the project, including the methodological tools to be used. This will be grounded in the social theory on the European public sphere and cosmopolitanism and in the methodological premises of cultural sociology and frame / social representation analysis.

Work Package 2 Historical Analysis.
This work package reviews existing material on each of the festivals under investigation from a historical perspective. The objective of this historical analysis will be to chart the organizational and artistic development of the festivals over time in relation to key social events or developments in cultural policy (local, national, European).

Work Package 3. Case Studies.
The greater part of the empirical work will be concentrated in this work package and involve expert interviews with programme directors, key promoters and participating artists; site visits for fieldwork observation and to discuss with participants; media analysis to chart the wider publicity on the festivals under consideration; as well as follow-up focus groups with participants to explore instances of experimentation and experience and how these impact on identity strategies.

Work Package 4. Analysis and Comparison.
The last of the thematic work packages will analyze the empirical material against the theoretical framework of the research and compare the research findings across different levels and dimensions: mixed-arts vs. single-arts festivals; big vs. small festivals; thematic vs. generic festivals, high-brow vs. low-brow, festivals with a strong enterprise dimension vs. alternative festivals etc. WP4 will also explore the way(s) in which these festivals frame identity and the relation of the latter to arts and in this respect the way the themes of cultural diversity and difference, gender, politicization and access are experienced.